And frank c



NITED STATES PATENT Fries,

JOHN H. STEVENS, OF NEl/VARK, NEW JERSEY, AND FRANK C. AXTELL, OF

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO THE CELLULOID MANUFACTUR- ING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MANUFACTURE OF COMPOUNDS OF PYROXYLIN E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 510,617, dated December 12, 1893.

I Application filed June 9, 1890. Serial No. 354.822. (N specimens.) 1

To alt whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN H. STEVENS, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, and FRANK C. AXTELL,

5 residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Compounds of Pyroxyline, of which the following [o is a specification.

This application is designated as Case B of June 2, 1890.

This invention is based upon our discovery that phenylacetamide (acetanilid) which,from

its nature, and general properties and especially its difficult solubility, when compared with some solids like camphor, would not apparently be a useful ingredient in pyroxyline compounds, is in some connections and under certain conditions when used with a liquid menstruum or with liquid menstrua an exceedingly valuable constituent of pyroxyline compounds. If it be simply added to many solutions of pyroxyline, it would exhibit a deleterious action, but we have discovered certain conditions in and under which this new ingredient may be successfully used, from which other proportions and conditions may be known by those skilled in the art.

Wherever we use the word phenylacetamide, in this specification, we also include the substance having the name, acetanilid, the latter being the name of the commercial article. In Watts Dictionary of Chemistry,

3 5 London, 1883, volume 4, page 114, acetanilid and phenylaceteamide are described as identical, with a melting-point of 112 centigrade. The two substances are also pronounced the same in BeilsteinsHandbach, second edition,

0 volume 2, page 264, and in Roscoe and Schc'r- Zemmers Treatise on Chemistry, Appletons edition of 1870, volume 3, page 210. But in Beitsteins Ha-ndbach cter Organischen Chemie, second edition, volume 2, page 268, ace- 5 tanilid is described as a distinct substance, melting at 112 centigrade, and, in the same book, page 841, phenyl-acetamide is described as a distinct substance, melting at from 154 to 155 centigrade; and in Roscoe and Schor- Zemmers Treatise on Oh emistrr volume 3, part 5, page 13, phenyl-acetamide is also described as a distinct substance, melting at 154 to 155 centigrade. While ourinvention, therefore, covers the use of both substances, which seem to have been originally confounded with each other, we prefer the use of the acetanilid of commerce to thetrueacetanilid phenylacetamide,-because it has a lower boiling-point, and also because the true phenylacetamide is so difficult of production that it will probably never be of commercial importance. I

We are aware that one of us has discovered that phenyl acetamide is a useful solvent of pyroxyline alone when melted, and also that it is a useful solvent for the production of solid or massive compounds of pyroxyline, and that this invention is the subject of a separate application for a patent filed simultaneously with this application, Serial No. 354,786. (Designated as Case A.) We have discovered, however, in addition to this invention that phenyl acetamide is usefully soluble in acetone and also that a very useful mixture for spreading upon glass or other substance to form when dry a thin sheet of pyroxyline compound useful especially as a negative support in photography, or for other purposes where a thin sheet or film is useful, can be made by dissolving one hundred parts by weight of a grade of pyroxyline which is easily liquefied by fluid solvents, such for instance as the pyroxyline preferred for photographic purposes, in five hundred parts of acetone in which twenty-five parts phenyl acetamide have been dissolved. This solution after a few hours and after being properly stirred and then permitted to settle forms a solution of the proper consistency for spreading upon glass, or other surfaces, or surfaces requiring a protective coating of pyroxyline; coloring matters can either be dissolved or mechanically mixed with this solution to produce a variety of effects or to alter the appearance or color of the compound. We do not limit ourselves to the use of the above proportions of phenyl acetamide and acetone, nor to the order of mixing the ingredients, nor to the use of the above grade of soluble pyroxyline,as we are entitled to claim broadly the use of these two ingredients together in the manufacture of fluid pyroxyline compounds.

The compound resulting from the above mode of manufacture possesses superior advantages over similar compounds in which camphor is employed as the solid ingredient, for our dried films or sheets are odorless and possess a harder surface and superior luster than compounds made by the old methods or ingredients. We have discovered also that a fine quality of wood alcohol may be substituted for acetone in substantially the above specified proportions so as to make a useful fluid solution of pyroxyline and believe that by the two means above specified We have been the first to effect or produce a useful fluid solution in which phenyl acetamide is a solvent, or a portion of the same.

We do not claim the employment of phenyl acetamide in compounds of pyroxyline generally.

What we do claim,and desire to secure b Letters Patent, is

1. The process of manufacturing fluid pyroxyline compound which consists in mixing pyroxyline, phenyl acetamide, and a liquid menstruum or liquid menstrua sufficient in quantity and proportion to reduce the mixture to a fluid condition, substantially as described.

2. The process of manufacturing fluid pyroxyline compounds which consists in mixing pyroxyline, phenyl acetamide and acetone, in such quantities and proportions as to reduce the mixture to a fluid condition, substantially as described.

3. The process of manufacturing fluid pyroxyline compounds which consists in mixing pyroxyline, phenyl acetamide, acetone, and a liquid menstruum or menstrua, suflicient in quantity and proportion to reduce the mixture to a fluid condition, substantially as described.

l. The product resulting from the process of manufacturingfluid pyroxyliue compounds which consists in mixing pyroxyline, phenyl acetamide, and a liquid menstruum or liquid menstrua suflicient in quantity and proportion to reduce the mixture to a fluid condition, substantially as described.

5. The product resulting from the process of manufacturing fluid pyroxyline compounds which consists in mixing pyroxyline, phenyl acetamide and acetone, in such quantities and proportions as to reduce the mixture to a fluid condition, substantially as described.

6. The product resulting from the process of mauufacturingfluid pyroxyline compounds which consists in mixing pyroxyline, phenyl acetamide, acetone, and a liquid menstruum or menstrua, sufficient in quantity and proportion to reduce the mixture to a fluid con dition substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we severally afiixour signatures, in presence of two witnesses, this 2d day of June, 1890.

JOHN H. STEVENS. FRANK C. AXTELL.

\Vitnesses:

W. H. BERRIGAN, J r., JAMES J. COSGROVE. 

